Thursday Recruitin' Pushes The Pile Comment Count

Ace

Today's recruiting roundup covers new offers in both the '13 and '14 classes, the updated Rivals rankings, and more.

Found: Goal Line Back, Destroyer Of Worlds

If you like to watch enormous people destroy things, you'll very much enjoy Maurice Hurst Jr.'s senior highlight tape:

About the only thing that's missing is him beating a block in a fashion other than bull rush. When your bull rush works like this, though, there's not much reason to switch things up at the high school level:


When you're done marveling at MASS DESTRUCTION, check out the "block" by the fullback

Also, if Hurst is never used as a goal-line back at Michigan, I'll be a very sad panda.

247 released senior highlights of Jake Butt this week, as well—he did impressive work on offense this season, lining up both as a traditional tight end and split out wide.

[Hit THE JUMP for a roundup of Michigan's latest offers, the updated 2013 Rivals rankings, and more.]

Let The Pillaging Commence

Brady Hoke certainly isn't afraid to raid other school's classes in an effort to bolster his own; he's already flipped Ross Douglas (Penn State) and Da'Mario Jones (Central Michigan) in the 2013 class, is currently pursuing linemen Kenny Lacy (UCLA commit) and Cameron Hunt (Cal commit), and now his latest 2013 offers are out to prospects committed to other Big Ten schools.

Scout's Bill Greene reports($) that the Wolverines offered OH CB Reon Dawson, an Illinois commit and Trotwood-Madison teammate of Mike McCray. Dawson says he's sticking with the Illini for now, but is considering a visit to Ann Arbor.

Michigan also offered Cass Tech OL Dennis Finley, a Michigan State commit, per multiple outlets. Finley told 247's Sean Scherer that "I'm a Spartan and I'm sticking with my commitment," so it doesn't appear the offer will amount to anything ($). It's unclear how the Finley offer relates to the status of Michigan's other O-line targets, but things still look good with David Dawson and Cameron Hunt.

Speaking of Dawson, he had to reschedule this weekend's planned visit to Ohio State because he's taking the ACT, per TomVH. He'll be in Ann Arbor on December 14th, along with Hunt, and if he wants a spot in the Wolverine class it's quite possible he won't make it down to Columbus after all.

Another visit that won't happen: Leon McQuay III's planned official to USC this weekend. Lane Kiffin will have an in-home visit with the McQuays on Monday and it's possible he'll reschedule the visit. The resignation of defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, however, definitely hurts USC's chances to ultimately land him. It still appears that this is a race between Vanderbilt, Michigan, and Florida State.

In other Trojan-related news, four-star TX WR Eldridge Massington decommitted from USC after learning they wouldn't have the room to take him as an early enrollee, according to ESPN's Damon Sayles ($). Massington tore his ACL in July and wants to enroll at a school in December in order to get the best possible rehab on his knee. He doesn't have any favorites or visits set up at this time; Michigan was heavily involved with him before his USC commitment and could find their way back into the picture.

2013 Rivals Rankings Updated

After the Rivals100 was updated on Monday, the changes to the full Rivals250 and beyond were revealed this week. Aside from Wyatt Shallman dropping out of the Rivals250 after previously being at #206, the changes for Michigan commits were relatively minor. Dymonte Thomas (#107), Chris Fox (#123), Jake Butt (#141), Jourdan Lewis (#147), Taco Charlton (#231), Ross Douglas (#238), and Logan Tuley-Tillman (#245) made the cut among Wolverine commits.

In further Rivals updates, Channing Stribling jumped from two stars to three, earning a 5.7 rating—he's ranked as the #28 safety in the country, just four spots away from the lowest four-star. Da'Mario Jones went from unranked to a three-star prospect (5.6 rating), though he didn't crack the list of ranked wide receivers.

ESPN released the rosters for the Under Armour All-American Game, which will take place on January 4th. All of Michigan's commits slated to play—Mike McCray, Shane Morris, Henry Poggi, Patrick Kugler, and Logan Tuley-Tillman—were placed on the "Nitro" (white) team coached by former 49ers and Lions head coach Steve Mariucci. Other players on interest on the white squad include Laquon Treadwell, Gareon Conley, Ty Isaac, Na'Ty Rodgers, David Dawson, and Cameron Hunt—the odds are pretty good that Michigan will have more than five commits on the team by the time the game rolls around.

Etc.

Michigan offered 2014 CA RB Joe Mixon yesterday, according to TomVH ($, info in header). Mixon stands at 6'1", 191 pounds, and holds offers from Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon State, and Washington, as well as interest from Oregon.

2014 FL WR Corey Holmes, who's previously put Michigan at the top of his list, told 247's Todd Worly that he might drop by a bowl practice in Tampa before the Outback Bowl ($). He's also planning another visit to Ann Arbor for the summer or fall next year; it looks like there's still serious interest from him.

2014 OL commit Denzel Ward picked up an offer from Ohio State yesterday, but quickly dispelled any concerns that he'd waver on his Michigan commitment:

Finally, Michigan is starting to show interest in 2013 OH LB Rasheen Jones, a current Cincinnati commit, according to Cincinnati.com's Mike Dyer. Jones is a three-star on all four recruiting sites. So far, it looks like the extent of his Michigan recruitment has been a phone call from one of the coaches to his high school coach, so it's unclear how strong the interest from the Wolverines is at the moment.

Comments

Ace

December 6th, 2012 at 12:00 PM ^

Right now they've got 24 spots available, so two more open spots in the class, but that assumes no further attrition, which won't be the case. Expect it to get at least to 25, possibly as high as 27—Michigan can backdate some of the planned early enrollees (Bosch, LTT, Butt, Charlton, Thomas).

bubblelevel

December 6th, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^

If you look closely the OL Hurst mauls looks like he's waiving "so-long" to being vertical.  The poor corner on his blitz was hoping this would be his highlight lead.

I hope Morris doesn't get all 7v7ish if that's what I was reading.  Needs to go stealth, work on serious qb stuff, get down to Michigan as often as possible and make the transition.

BiSB

December 6th, 2012 at 12:03 PM ^

About the only thing that's missing is him beating a block in a fashion other than bull rush

In the first clip he shows a nice little bit of lateral agility and reverse-table-leg's the center

gopoohgo

December 6th, 2012 at 12:04 PM ^

Had flashbacks of my time at offensive guard in high school playing against D-1,2 D-lineman from Southfield watching Hurst's film.

Like how low he plays; he's consistently under the guard/center's pads while blowing them up.

 

Seth

December 6th, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^

Watson started all four years at Southfield and graduated in 2002 so my senior year ('98, so '97 football season) he was a freshman and he was already huge. Their DE was their running back--a big kid we ran away from--but I didn't know Watson from Adam.

Actually you may remember the scariest DL in the league at that time from Pontiac Northern--they had two DTs who slaughtered us. Messed up my brother's shoulder for good.

My brother in law played for Andover and was the same grade as Watson so maybe he has memories of Big Gabe from then.

Magnus

December 6th, 2012 at 12:34 PM ^

Perhaps.  I mean, William Campbell and Quinton Washington were also options, both of whom are significantly bigger than Martin.  The coaches chose to go with Martin at NT and Heininger at DT, rather than Campbell/Washington at NT and Martin at DT.

I'm not saying they want a smaller, quicker guy at NT.  I'm just saying they've done so before and had success.

gopoohgo

December 6th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^

*sigh*

I wish Mattison had an additional year to coach up Q-Wash and BWC.

Washington, especially, performed very well this year and would have allowed MM to slide over to the 3.  Even Campbell played much more consistently this year.

Looking for big things next year for the D-line with Washington anchoring the middle.

RakeFight

December 6th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^

I know he's officially visiting, but are there other reasons to think that things "look good" with Hunt?  Has he made noise about serious interest in flipping to Michigan?

Magnus

December 6th, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^

The things he's said suggest that he's not very happy with the Cal situation, and he was really angling for a Michigan offer before it even happened, when he was anonymous to lots of Michigan fans.  So I think there's a general air of positivity.

Ron Utah

December 6th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^

Any time a commit visits another school and talks positively about an offer, it's a good sign.  Think about our recruits that have talked positively about other schools...there are only a few, and they have ended-up decommitting.

turtleboy

December 6th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^

I peg myself as an unabashed homer (I'd rather be hot than cold) and I have nothing to base my opinion on other than it's my opinion, but Maurice Hurst looks better than a 3 star-37th best DT from 2013 to me. I was thinking he'd climb the rankings as the year went on, and his senior highlights came out, but he's actually dropped in the rankings. He was 34th. He may not have perfect technique, and generally faces inferior competition, but he's not just a big kid either. He's very athletic, and has a great motor for someone his size. Plus, he lives in the backfield (sideline to sideline, even) can get push on 2 or 3 guys at once, and half of his tackles were TFLs. I know he's pretty raw, and doesn't use every trick in the book, but he still looks like he has some pretty rare qualities.

Bluetahfski

December 6th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^

Maybe you guys can help me out with something.  There are 3 outstanding offers to O/L in Dawson, Lacey, and Hunt.  Do the coaches go with the 1st guy that says yes OR do they tell one guy, we've saved a spot for you and tell the other 2 that they're on 'standby' until they get the word from the one their holding a spot for

Also, wouldn't it be sweet to steal a committed Buckeye, and give Oscar Meyer a taste of his own medicine

funkywolve

December 6th, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^

is probably the most effective block on that play.  He at least made what looks like #84 and #10 have veer to the side a little bit.  No other defender had to change their line of attack during that play.  Everyone else on defense maintained a straight line of attack towards the QB or ball carrier.

marlon

December 6th, 2012 at 2:39 PM ^

The first highlight on that Hurst video looks like the kind of play an opposing team concedes to a kid who wears a helmet off the field, as well as on it.  I mean, did the O-line there just part itself like the Red Sea, or was Hurst's burst and first move what allowed him to get through?

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

December 6th, 2012 at 6:12 PM ^

His film shows phenomenal vision and agility. Very good speed and size. Not the most physical yet but if he gets stronger, he is very comparable to TJ Yeldon. He would be a great addition to Green and big-play guy. Do we have a real chance with him?

MGoStrength

December 7th, 2012 at 4:28 PM ^

All the talk about not being able to sign highly rated recievers and the expectation that Treadwell won't be coming to UM makes me wonder about the position in the state at the high school level.  I'm guessing the top rated reciever in state is either Jones or York, whom we've both already received verbals from.  When I go back and think about the best recievers from Michigan most of them seem to be from other areas.  If memory serves me correct Manningham, Walker, Terrell, Toomer, Alexander, Howard, Carter, Breaston, and Avant are all from other states.  Maybe I'm forgetting some guys as this is purely off memory.  But, the only guy I can think of from the modern era from the state of Michigan is Edwards.  Is this a problem and has this always been the case?  Do we expect to have any top 15ish recievers in the country to be from Michigan next year?  If not, how big of a problem do we expect this to be going forward?  This seems like our biggest recruiting challenge right now.

Magnus

December 9th, 2012 at 5:48 AM ^

Drake Harris (who is currently committed to MSU) could very well be a top 100 guy for the class of 2014.  He's from Grand Rapids.

The state of Michigan doesn't often put out great receivers.  There are several reasons for this, IMO.  First is the weather.  These kids can't go out and throw the ball year-round because of the snow and cold temperatures.  That also affects quarterback play, which is generally mediocre within the state.  Shane Morris is a 5-star guy, but he's a rarity within the state.  Teams in Michigan need to develop a running game if they want to be successful in October and November.  

And the coaching is generally poor in the city of Detroit, which retards a lot of quarterback play and prevents those kids from developing.  There are tons of good athletes in Detroit, but you wonder how many of them would play QB if given the proper setting.  The best of the bunch in recent years was Devin Gardner, and we've all seen his odd throwing motion; he got by on athleticism in high school.